United were two down after 30 minutes following goals from Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan and were lucky not to have been even further behind as Raheem Sterling missed two clear chances.

But United staged a surprise comeback in the second half as Pogba netted twice before Chris Smalling got on the end of Alexis Sanchez’s free-kick to score the winner.

Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera struggled to contain City’s midfield in the opening 45 minutes, but Mourinho is adamant that he was happy with his trio and claims he demanded more from Smalling and Eric Bailly, as well as Sanchez and Jesse Lingard.

‘I told at half time that my midfield players couldn’t play better than they were,’ Mourinho told Sky Sports.

Manchester City were two goals ahead by half-time. (AFP/Getty Images)

‘Difficult to play against them because they press really well, and compact and their transition is really strong.

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‘I told Matic, Herrera and Pogba they cannot improve a lot from what they did in the first half.

‘They had confidence to play, to pass through the lines.

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